I shopped rebuild kits on autozone.com. I’m registered with them, they have my VIN and complete auto information. They returned 34 rebuild kits. (‘Recommended For Your 1987 Toyota Truck Pickup 2WD’) I could see they were different from the pictures. Chilton and Haynes don’t tell me which I have either.

You may have to do a visual comparison.
It’s very possible that your carburetor wasn’t domestically sourced, and Toyota (as do other manufacturers) may not allow the carb manufacturer’s information on the carb. It’s a part built to Toyota designs and sourced accordingly.

The only suggestion I can make is to ask the Toyota parts guy if they offer a carb rebuild kit. If they do, that might be the safest route to go.

NOTE: often carb rebuild kits will be packaged to satisfy a number of applications, 'cause it’s cheaper than packaging 100 different kits one for each variation. Often that means a number of rebuild kits will each work for a specific carb.

I have yet to see a carb that didn’t have a model number stamped or cast into it. Often you can see the markings once you remove the ancillary bits around it. Most carbs can be liberated from the vehicle in 15 minutes or less to do close up inspection if you can’t find it while installed. (the “emission” carbs of the late 70s, early 80s notwithstanding because you have to mark everything you take off) Then you know EXACTLY what carb you have, no guessing.

Try year/make/model/engine instead of VIN. I only see one kit for that vehicle, Part Number: 96-615B.

It had all that information, even displays it when I log in, but I went to update my profile, just re-entered all that info, tried again, and they found only that 1 kit. Thanks.

Tester:

They’re called asian 2 barrel HILUX carburetors.

I clicked on that. The $119 model is in the UAE, $44 shipping, and doesn’t fit 1987. One in China also didn’t and cost $600 shipping. When I changed the search to search specifically for 1987 it switched it back to 1981-1995 and gives me a bunch of carburetors the listings say won’t fit my vehicle.

I’ve rebuilt my Ford truck’s autolite-2100 carb several times, and the rebuild kit always contains quite a few parts I don’t actually need. That does cause a bit of confusion but I’ve always been able to work out which part I do need from what part I don’t just from a common sense visual inspection. There’s may be dozens of different configurations of the same carb, due for example to changes in emissions requirements year to year and state to state.

I wouldn’t purchase a carb rebuild kit from a national chain auto parts store myself. Much more likely to get the right kit for the application from your trusted local auto parts store in my experience.

I doni’t believe that there are any highway legal vehicles built since the late 80s with a carburetor. And fuel injection is actually simpler to deal with than the last carburetors used on cars. GM throttle body injection was actually quite simple with a good scan tool. 3 bbls on Hondas, variable venturis on Fords and computer controlled power valves on Rochesters were nightmares in their time. And the worst problems dealing with those 80s carburetors was back tracking what the owner and his friends had done in an effort to “fix” a problem.

All kits came with detailed instructions written for experienced carburetor rebuilders.

I agree with Rod on this. Fuel injection’s benefits are substantial, and were well known long before the technology became available to be able to effectively and reliably control the injectors. By the mid '90s, perhaps even the very early '90s, everything in the U.S. was injected, although there may have still been carbureted cars sold in some other countries. Mexico perhaps. I don’t know that for a fact, I’m just recognizing the possibility.

I think the biggest difference in perception of reliability is that one can usually limp home when a carbureted engine falters, but when something goes bad on an electronically fuel injected engine it generally means you’re stuck.

All kits came with detailed instructions written for experienced carburetor rebuilders.

‘Experienced’? I don’t like the read of that. I’ve never rebuilt a carburetor. Can I find instructions online to see what they look like?

A vendor in Kentucky advertises a carb speced to fit my truck for $114 (+free shipping); the rebuild kit at AutoZone is $35: would a new carb be a better deal? Does someone make shoddy carbs aimed at the naïve customer?

15 years ago I had to drill out the rivets that hold the cover over the choke (earlier models had removable covers) to repair it. I re-attached it with tapping screws. I took it off this week to see if there was a problem with the choke (there wasn’t). One of the screws broke off when I was screwing it in. This makes new more attractive.